Chris Ball

Chris Ball

Our dad died of a rare heart condition, he was ill for roughly 8 years. He kept going to the doctors telling them how much pain he was in. He was passed from pillar to post and basically told he wasn't ill. He was forced to go to tribunals and meetings where he was scrutinised as to why he couldn't work. He was told he was fit to work even though he clearly wasn't. He'd spend evenings curled up in a ball on the floor in agony, we'd see this happen so much that it was almost normal. As the months got colder he felt worse. On the 21st of September he was in the middle of writing a note to my mum asking her to book him a doctors appointment because he was in so much pain. He didn't finish the note he collapsed and died. At 4am I heard a weird noise which I was later told was the last of Dads breath leaving his body. I went down stairs and found him on the kitchen floor. Doctors told us he died in hospital but we believe he died at home as it was only the constant use of the defibrillator over and over that kept his heart going until we reached the hospital. In the hospital we tried to stay positive but we got moved into the family room and we all knew from tv that was the room you got taken to to receive the news someone had died. If this was someone else's story I would be reading it and thinking it was pretty horrific but the point is this could have happened to anyone! I spent my whole life seeing bad things happen to people around me and it never really sinks in that one day it could happen to you! I rarely talk about what happened. I usually talk as if dads still here to avoid peoples questions and the awkward 'Im so sorrys'.
Heart attack is one phrase used for a multitude of diseases. Most people associate heart attacks with what they've seen on the tv, people falling over and clutching there chest. That is just ONE type. There are so many different symptoms and not that much awareness! Giving money to the british heart foundation could lead their research to enable them to develop better ways of diagnosing heart problems and spreading awareness that could save lives.
So please, if you have spare money donate! I will be donating as much as I can when I can. Don't think of it as giving to charity think of it as investing in peoples futures , the more money we give now the better the methods of diagnosis and care will be in the future.